Materials

Work quickly and error‑free with your own article catalogue

With Materials in OutSmart you build a central catalogue with articles you often use. Each article has a code, description and fixed price. This way you don’t have to re‑enter everything every time: you type a few letters in a work order, quotation or invoice and select the correct product immediately. This provides speed, uniformity and fewer errors.

Over 20.000 happy daily users

Manual materials handling vs. OutSmart Materials

Topic	Without OutSmart	With OutSmart
Article catalogue	Spreadsheet or binder — not accessible in the field	Digital catalogue available on every technician's phone
Pricing	Looked up manually per quote or invoice — errors common	Prices pulled from catalogue automatically — always current
Usage registration	Written on paper, reported later — often incomplete	Registered in the app at the moment of use, linked to the job
Invoice accuracy	Materials forgotten or estimated on the invoice	Every item used is captured and billed automatically
Catalogue updates	Updated in one place, circulated manually to field team	Update once — all devices reflect the change immediately
Supplier references	Stored separately — hard to find when ordering	Supplier code and reference stored per article for fast reordering

Easily select materials

Because you centrally record your materials you work more efficiently in the field and in the back office. Technicians register their consumption with a few clicks while the administration benefits from clear and consistent data. This makes invoicing easier, prevents misunderstandings and gives insight into material consumption.

Materials also provide more grip on margins and inventory management. Because everyone uses the same catalogue you avoid duplicate or incorrect entries. This makes your business operations more consistent and professional and saves time in every process.

Practical example

An installer records standard articles such as copper pipes, screw sets and thermostats in OutSmart. During a job the technician selects the correct article with three letters. The price and description are immediately correct in the work order and invoice without any risk of typing errors.

Benefits

Work faster – direct selection instead of manual entry
Less error prone – always the same article codes and prices
Uniformity – one clear catalogue for everyone
Easy link to work orders, quotations and invoices

3232784

Work orders per year

5172

Customers trust OutSmart

Years of experience

We constantly had to create work orders manually with pen and paper. By providing a clear digital system with many options, along with an excellent helpdesk that assists with everything, even the smallest questions, Outsmart has helped us.

Thomas Loos, Display4all

We used to lose work orders now and then, which made tracking time a challenge. With the easy digital entry of work orders, it's much simpler for the technician to manage the administration. Having 100% accurate work orders has definitely cut our administrative time in half.

Pascal Hanenbergh, Hanenberg Techniek

Frequently asked questions about OutSmart Materials

OutSmart Materials is a central article catalogue where you store all parts, products, and consumables used on jobs — with prices, units, VAT rates, and supplier references. Technicians select materials from this catalogue on-site, usage is linked to the work order, and everything flows to the invoice automatically.

Yes. The full article catalogue is available in the OutSmart mobile app. Technicians can search by name, code, or category, select the items they used, enter quantities, and attach them to the work order — all from their phone while still on-site.

Prices are managed centrally in OutSmart. When you update a price or add a new article, the change is immediately visible to all users on all devices. There is no need to distribute updated price lists or spreadsheets to the field team.

Yes. Customer-specific or contract-specific pricing can be configured per article. When a technician registers materials on a job for that client, OutSmart applies the agreed price automatically — no manual lookup or override needed.

Yes. Every article registered during a job is included in the work order and flows automatically to the billing module. When the invoice is generated, all materials are listed with the correct quantities and prices — no manual reconciliation required.

Yes. The catalogue supports categories and subcategories — for example, spare parts, consumables, and labour items can each have their own section. This makes it faster for technicians to find the right article on-site and helps managers maintain a structured catalogue.

Yes. OutSmart supports bulk import of article catalogues via CSV or direct integration with your accounting package. If your price list lives in Exact Online, AFAS, or SnelStart, items can be synchronised so both systems stay aligned automatically.

Industries

Integrations